You are here

Charlotte Three

"Charlotte Three" was the term applied by journalists in the 1970s to James Grant, T. J. Reddy, and Charles Parker, African American civil rights activists who were arrested and convicted in 1972 as political terrorists on charges of barn burning by federal agents of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms division of the U.S. Treasury Department. Their case was representative of racial unrest that marked Mecklenburg County at the time. The three men were placed in the custody of North Carolina because the barn was located near Charlotte. The case dragged on for several years, and the men were sentenced to 25, 20, and 10 years, respectively; additional men were charged with participating in the unrest associated with this and related incidents. Two years after the trial, two witnesses revealed that the federal government had paid them $4,000 each as a "relocation fee" following their testimony against the accused. After numerous appeals and hearings, the sentences of the Charlotte Three were adjusted, and in time the prisoners were placed on work release or paroled.